


Neverland

by SocialMoth



Series: VLD: Missing Scenes [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Dialogue Heavy, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Friendship, Gen, I have a tender spot in my heart for abandoned things, Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Missing Scene, Sibling Bonding, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), headcanon where Keith and Pidge are bros AF, maybe not fully canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-20 11:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13146162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SocialMoth/pseuds/SocialMoth
Summary: "You know we can't even see Earth from here?" Keith said wistfully, "Coran showed us on the map. Probably can't see our sun either." He shifted to resting his cheek on his knee, face angling away from Pidge, eyes fluttering closed. "Maybe it's better if y'all can't see home."--Missing Scene immediately post-"Tears of the Balmera" (IIRC)





	Neverland

**Author's Note:**

> December 2017
> 
> I started writing this during lunch breaks at work god only knows when.
> 
> ^^^Is when I typed it up.
> 
> Not my best work but I've had a lot of life happen this year in which I conveniently forgot about writing as escapism.
> 
> Huzzah, have fun, etc., I care a lot about my emotional mullet son and also all the rest of them.

_"Glad to have you on the team."_

…

Had he meant it, really? Just hours ago he had blown up at her, ready to throttle her, for choosing her blood over the whole of the universe – thank whatever god there was out here that Shiro had been there and could keep him in check.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Pidge booted up her computer as she had done many nights already, tuning in to that bizarre signal that she hoped she could narrow down as her father and brother, that siren call across the universe drawing her towards them.

(Lance had said something like that once about going back to Cuba and Varadero Beach. It sounded too purple-prosy for how Pidge felt – or maybe it was actually just anguished enough.)

She pressed an earphone closer, blocking out background noise as she adjusted the angle of her satellite. The constant hum of the castle-ship, barely noticeable in the hubbub of daylight hours, became a distraction for such sensitive nighttime work.

Pidge didn't hear the light tap of boots approaching her.

"Pidge?" A quiet voice just managed to break through her headphones, so subtle she almost believed it was a message transmitted over the airwaves. "Pidge," it came louder, outside the bounds of the earphones. Starting, Pidge lifted the headphones away and craned her head around, catching sight of Keith behind her, just barely visible in the doorway.

"Keith," she acknowledged, caught between asking what he wanted and telling him to go away. She compromised with silence, waiting. Keith shifted his weight, staring at his feet.

"What are you doing up here?" he said to the the floor at his right, "Aren't you… cold?" he frowned around the taste of the words, like he'd never said anything like that before in his life.

"I'm fine." Pidge hung her headphones around her neck, still watching Keith over her shoulder. He didn't move either.

"Is Lance okay?" she suddenly asked, grasping now for reasons the older boy might seek her out. Lance had become like a brother to her at the Garrison – or more a very annoying cousin, because no one could replace Matt – and his unconscious state in the healing pod hit hard.

Keith looked up, eyes wide. "No-- I mean, he's fine. I guess." He shrugged, arms crossed over his chest. "No change, anyway."

Losing her patience, Pidge cut to the chase. "Then why are you up here?"

Ducking his head, Keith leaned against the door frame. "I…" his voice trailed off; he seemed suddenly so very small that Pidge regretted her harsh tone. She'd only known the boy to be exceedingly confrontational, more likely to lash out than shrink back. So what had changed here? He appeared unable, rather than unwilling, to meet to her gaze and Pidge turned herself more toward him. His lips moved around the shape of what he wanted to say, but no sound came out that Pidge could detect.

"Didn't catch that," Pidge teased, forcing a lightness to her tone that seemed to invite conversation whenever her brother used it. "Lion got your tongue?" That sounded more like something Lance would say. Keith lifted his chin, eye twitching in irritation.

"I just… Just lemme get this out," he fumbled, only sinking harder against the door frame. Pidge thought about making him hurry it up – she didn't have all night – but his dark eyes looked so lost and vulnerable she couldn't summon the pricklier side of her nature she'd set loose under her Garrison alias, not now. "I'm sorry, okay. For how I was earlier." He looked down again, fingers clenching harder in the extra fabric of his sleeves, "I was out of line." Those were definitely Shiro's words. But Keith looked sincere, not like anyone had put him up to this – he just didn't know how to say what he felt.

"Forget about it. I really should have chosen Voltron," Pidge tried to alleviate, unable to stand seeing such a normally self-assured person looking so fragile. To her surprise Keith shook his head.

"No, I should've… It wasn't about you choosing your family over us. Not really." He sighed, ruffling his hair and making it look even messier. He dropped his hands to his sides, fingers drumming on his thighs. Without saying anything he walked to the edge of the balcony adjacent to her, where he sat facing out into the night, slipping one of his legs through the guard railing to let it dangle below. The other leg he drew up, hooking his arms around it in what looked like a self-conscious hug, resting his chin on his knee. After a few moments of Pidge silently watching his expression for any indication of his intentions – and seeing nothing – she turned her gaze forward again, out to the empty sky – with only pinpoints of stars to see.

"You know we can't even see Earth from here?" Keith said wistfully, "Coran showed us on the map. Probably can't see our sun either." He shifted to resting his cheek, face angling away from Pidge, eyes fluttering closed. "Maybe it's better if y'all can't see home."

"Why just us? You're from Earth, too," Pidge gently reminded him, frowning.

"Yeah, maybe I was born there. Don't really have a reason to stay, now Shiro's back…" he trailed off again, chewing his lip like he'd realized maybe he'd said too much. Then, "He's like a brother to me. He's the closest thing to family I've ever had."

Something pressed at the edges of Pidge's mind, understanding just within reach. "So, that cabin you took us to...?"

"Abandoned. I found it after Shiro vanished and the Garrison expelled me, and I just… laid my head there every night. Until I found him again and this whole mess started." He shrugged. "Dunno where I planned to go after all that. Never really had any place to call 'home,' even when I was a kid."

The realization slammed into her. "You were an orphan, weren't you?"

Keith smirked wryly. "Still am, last I checked." His smile faded. "None of my foster families wanted to keep me, either."

"You were given up," Pidge said softly. He shrugged.

"Coulda happened to anyone."

"Keith—"

"Don't," he said sharply, face darkening. "Shiro's here. That's all I care about right now."

Now Pidge felt prickly, but she let it rest. He seemed even more uncomfortable now, like he hated himself for admitting as much as he already had.

Keith's outburst hadn't been him angry at Pidge for wanting to go find her family – and she believed that. But she realized now, he'd grown so used to thinking of Shiro as the only family he needed, that he'd forgotten others had entirely different people equally if not more important to them.

Finally she allowed the barest indulgent smile; Keith actually cared a ton, didn't he? He just misrepresented his emotions sometimes – or a lot, as the case may be. She leaned just slightly sideways towards him, purposefully keeping her eyes on the night sky. Having adjusted to the dimness, she now found a faintly glowing river of stars - perhaps Altea sat in a spiral galaxy, just like Earth.

"You know I'd go save you before I'd save the universe, too. We all would. Even Lance, whatever else he might say. You're one of us."

And she watched Keith's stone-sober features soften out the barest edges of her vision, and a warm little burst of affection glowed in her chest. Could she get away with considering him her bratty little brother, she wondered? Perhaps she'd just better not say anything about it to him. Not one particularly to let sappy moments linger, Keith cleared his throat and pulled up his hanging leg. "I should probably check on our 'Tailor,' or whatever he calls himself now – I don't think anyone else is still up."

The pods would alarm if anything went awry – but Pidge said nothing, just smirked to herself as Keith pushed to his feet, dusting off his thighs as he straightened.

"Keith," she said on a whim, and waited for his shuffling to pause before craning her head up. "You should really get some sleep, while you can."

"Look who's talking," he shot back, sounding a little more like the abrasive rebel with a chip on his shoulder. But his eyes were bright and warm, and he seemed in higher spirits than when he'd first come out to the balcony. Pidge wouldn't tell anyone about this softer side of Keith – let him reveal that to the team himself – but it felt better to know at least that it existed.

She realized she was still holding his gaze, his contented expression holding steady but she detected the first threads of shyness fraying the edges. On impulse she cocked her head and said in her most insufferable know-it-all voice, "Can I help you?"

That broke the… not uncomfortable, but unfamiliar, silence, and Keith looked like on another day he might have even laughed a bit or at least snarked right back. "Nah, I'm good." He scuffed his heel on the floor, awkwardly dusting off his pants again before turning away. "...Thank you, Pidge."

"Of course," she replied semi-automatically. "...What for?"

But Keith had already left earshot, the door hissing shut announcing his full departure. Pidge twisted where she still sat to watch the doorway, as if maybe Keith would come back out, maybe retract the whole thing so no one would have to know he'd given Pidge a leg up to peek over his walls. Nothing happened. Something called out in the night, not dissimilar from what the offspring of an owl and a goat might sound like. And the spell broke.

Closing her eyes, Pidge straightened away from the door again and put her headphones back over her ears at last, to lose herself in an entirely different set of night sounds. Her father and brother were out there…

But, she let herself embrace with a new appreciation for her most hot-tempered teammate:

She also had family here.

**Author's Note:**

> //in which I speculate about Keef's past because I am a masochist.
> 
> Thanks for reading, guys.
> 
> (the title is low-key a reference to my angstcanon that our babies are all "lost boys" in some way, IDK if it even makes sense in this context but whatever, it makes it seem like I have something resembling I Know What I'm Doing re: titles)


End file.
